CHICAGO IL REAL ESTATE STATS PACK – December 15 2008

CHICAGO IL REAL ESTATE STATS PACK – December 15 2008

Good Morning!

Homes-for-sale Inventory in Chicago and elsewhere appears to be retreating even more than the Winter Season would predict. According to many Real Estate Experts lower home inventory levels is an important prerequisite to turning the real estate market around.

Read more via our post today at BlogChicagoHomes.com.

Here’s our updated Chicago IL Real Estate Stats Pack for Monday Morning December 15th.

Communities and clients we serve reside or plan to reside include the Chicago Neighborhoods of The Chicago Loop The Gold Coast River North Lincoln Park Lakeview Uptown Edgewater North Center Lincoln Square Albany Park Ravenswood Wicker Park and Bucktown.

Also these Great Chicago Neighborhoods: Logan Square Rogers Park West Ridge Portage Park Jefferson Park Norwood Park Sauganash Edgebrook and Edison Park. Plus All Chicago Suburbs.

SINGLE FAMILY CONDOS AND SMALL MULTI-UNIT PROPERTIES – NORTH SIDE OF CHICAGO NORTH OF ADDISON STREET WEST OF ASHLAND AVENUE

ACTV LISTINGS JUST SOLD CLOSED EXPIRED

w/e December 15th 4390 32 31 46

w/e December 8th 4446 36 52 103

% CHANGE -1.3% -11.1% -40.4% -553%

CLOSED PROPERTIES DATA

AVG SALE PRICE AVG DAYS ON MKT TOTAL VOLUME

w/e December 15th $351027 172 DAYS $10881837

w/e December 8th $320238 184 DAYS $16652220

% CHANGE +9.6% -6.5% -34.7%

THEORETICAL TIME TO CLEAR EXISTING INVENTORY (ABSORPTION RATE) –

w/e December 15th – LAST 12 MOS – 14.75 LAST 6 MOS – 14.21 LAST 3 MOS – 17.47

w/e December 8th – LAST 12 MOS – 14.80 LAST 6 MOS – 14.13 LAST 3 MOS – 17.25

PERCENT OF HOMES SELLING IN 180 DAYS –

w/e December 15th – 40.24% (UNSOLD – 59.76%)

w/e December 8th – 40.06% (UNSOLD – 59.94%)

SOURCE: MIDWEST REAL ESTATE DATA LLC AREA MARKET SURVEY DATA

OBSERVATIONS

All numbers predictable given the time of year – only a couple of weeks before Christmas and the Chicago Real Estate Market appears to be slowing perhaps a bit more than usual this year.

The only surprise this week is the Average Sales Price figure which increased strongly this week. We’ll again monitor this next week to see if this is just an aberration.

Absorption Rate or theoretical time to clear existing listing inventory continues weak at nearly 17 1/2 months in the North and Northwest Side of Chicago Neighborhoods we frequently serve.

The Percentage of Sale Within Six Month (180 Days) remained pretty much stable over the past week – just over 40% of listings we monitor here closely sell in a normal six-month marketing time frame.

Here are archived annual Chicago Neighborhood Statistics including Units Sold and Price Trends Data for 1992 through 2007 courtesy of The Chicago Association of Realtors.

In addition here is an Interactive Median Price Heat Map from the Chicago Tribune Real Estate Section covering Every Chicago Neighborhood. View the map for links to maps for Chicago Suburbs. It is updated as new data becomes available.

RATE & MARKET WATCH

For the sixth week in a row Average 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates continued to drop last week – down 0.12% to 5.80% for the week ending December 10th according to Bankrate.com. One year ago the Average 30-Year Fixed Rate was 6.17%. Many current homeowners applied for refinancing which continues with growing volume over the past week.

"The recent rate drop was a huge incentive for consumers to refinance into fixed-rate loans or enter the market to purchase a home" according to Bob Walters Chief Economist for Quicken Loans. "As long as rates remain in this range it’s likely that strong mortgage activity will continue as consumers take advantage of a holiday gift that comes in the form of lower or more secure mortgage payments."

Only slightly over one percent of all applicants asked for an Adjustable-Rate Mortgage (ARM) within the past week says Walters. Homeowners who currently hold ARM’S are refinancing into fixed-rate loans if they can just to gain security that their interest rate will never increase.

See Holden Lewis’s post via Bankrate.com for more detailed analysis and rate comparisons versus last week.

For daily news hot information and trends view our Real Estate Update newsletter via our Web Center – dean-team.com.

Need specific market trends information for any Chicago Neighborhood or Suburb. CALL US TODAY!

Happy Holidays!

DEAN MOSS & DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO